This afternoon, Democrats in politics and the media promptly swung into action to try to discredit Benjamin Netanyahu’s powerful indictment of the administration’s policies toward Iran. Nancy Pelosi bordered on the hysterical. Here, Chris Matthews accuses Netanyahu of being a “man from a foreign government” who “tried to take over U.S. foreign policy.” Seems like we’ve heard that somewhere before; Mearsheimer and Walt, call your office: CNN’s Christiane Amanpour says »

I thought this had to be a hoax, but no—here’s Nancy Pelosi’s entire statement; you need to read it, not to believe it: Washington, D.C. – Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi released the following statement regarding Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s address to the Joint Meeting of Congress: “The unbreakable bonds between the United States and Israel are rooted in our shared values, our common ideals and mutual interests. Ours is a »

The video of Prime Minister Netanyahus’s speech to the joint session of Congress is below. The Prime Minister’s Office has posted the text of the speech here. Paul Mirengoff has posted an excellent summary and analysis in the adjacent post. This was a historic speech. In the heart of his speech Netanyahu hit many of the themes we have hit here. He also anticipated and addressed the Obama administration’s criticism »

I will leave it to my partners to analyze the content of Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress this morning as it relates it Iran. Instead, I want to make some observations about the reception that he received from the joint session of Congress. To say that Netanyahu’s welcome was warm would be an understatement: it was rapturous. President Obama has never gotten such an enthusiastic reception for a State »

Strip away the politics associated with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s speech to Congress and this simple reality remains: Netanyahu had an urgent, much needed message to deliver about Iran. This morning Netanyahu delivered that message forcefully, persuasively, and to great applause from members of both political parties. A few dozen Democratic members, including a hugely disproportionate number of African-American congressman but also (according to Fox News) half a dozen Jewish members, »

The Washington Post reports that some former U.S. troops have taken up the fight against ISIS in Iraq: [A] growing band of foreigners [is] leaving behind their lives in the West to fight with new Christian militias against the Islamic State extremist group. The leaders of those militias say they have been swamped with hundreds of requests from veterans and volunteers from around the world who want to join them. »

President Obama’s outrage at Prime Minister Netanyahu is undoubtedly genuine, but every ground presented for it by the administration for it is a transparent pretext. One such ground is Netanyahu’s appearance before Congress within a few weeks of Israeli elections. The timing of the speech, however, is rather obviously dictated by the administration’s March 23 deadline for the outline of a final agreement with Iran. Obama’s outrage is keyed to »

Ray Takeyh, who served in the Obama administration focusing on Iran, has an illuminating piece on how Iran’s “Supreme Leader” is “patiently negotiating his way to a bomb.” Absent military intervention, Ayatollah Khamenei was always going to pursue his nuclear bomb. But it now looks like he will be able to pursue it in the most advantageous manner possible — with American cooperation. Takeyh explains: After years of defiance, Khamenei »

In my view, the big question in Republican presidential politics is how Scott Walker will perform as a candidate. As I wrote a few weeks ago, Walker has already proven that he can deliver red meat in a prepared speech. He proved it again at CPAC last week. But can Walker impressively discuss and eventually impressively debate the broad range of issues that will present themselves during the course of »

Michael Ramirez satirizes President Obama’s impending nuclear deal with Iran. Click to enlarge: Actually, Ramirez gives Obama the benefit of the doubt by assuming that his facilitation of Iran’s nuclear program is inadvertent. It seems at least as likely that Obama shares the mullahs’ goal of Iran as a regional hegemon. »

Prime Minister Netanyahu spoke this morning at the annual AIPAC policy conference in Washington. I have posted the video below (20 minutes). This speech is a warm-up to the main event tomorrow morning before a joint session of Congress. In this speech Netanyahu tactfully takes the highest ground possible consistent with his mission. “My speech is not intended to show any disrespect to President Obama or the esteemed office that »

Sad news this morning of the passing of M. Stanton Evans at the age of 80. He was, in addition to his long list of books and distinguished career in journalism, the author of the Sharon Statement, one of the founding documents of modern conservatism produced at the founding of Young Americans for Freedom in 1960. Stan was my first mentor in professional life. I came to Washington DC right »

The New York Times reports that Hillary Clinton used a personal email account — and only a personal email account — to send emails in connection with government business while she was Secretary of State. According to the Times: Mrs. Clinton did not have a government email address during her four-year tenure at the State Department. Her aides took no actions to have her personal emails preserved on department servers »

Obama national security adviser Susan Rice spoke at the AIPAC policy conference in Washington this evening. In the video below, Rice frankly avows the Obama administration’s support for Iran’s “domestic enrichment capacity” and pursuit of “peaceful nuclear energy.” We are advised that we have to define deviancy down in the name of realism: “We cannot let a totally unachievable ideal stand in the way of a good deal.” Translation: Unfortunately: »

“Net neutrality” is one of those technical-seeming issues about which it isn’t hard to make up one’s mind. Four good reasons to oppose it: 1) It is a solution to no known problem. 2) Why would we want the federal government to control the internet? 3) MoveOn.org and the Daily Kos are for it. 3) In Glenn Reynolds’ words, “Nothing says forward looking for the 21st century like a regulated »

I’ve had on my spindle for a month now this article by the WaPo’s Chris Mooney (author of the egregious Republican War on Science) about how the climate change debate is . . . polarized! Apparently Mooney discovered that climate change alarmists and climate “skeptics” really don’t like each other. Stop the presses! Clearly with Mooney we are in the presence of no ordinary mind. On the surface the story »

Senator Barbara Mikulski of Maryland announced today that she will not seek a seventh term. That opens up, I think, a great opportunity for Dr. Ben Carson, who I believe lives in Maryland, having been associated with Johns Hopkins for many years. Dr. Carson has talked about running for president. He is a great guy and a tremendous asset to the Republican Party, but administering the executive branch is not »